Cornyn: Highway Bill Will Enable Texas to Upgrade and Maintain Transportation NetworkCongressional Documents & PublicationsEvery state needs the transportation infrastructure to keep people and goods moving in order to continue to grow our economy, because a growing economy creates jobs and opportunity.' WASHINGTON - In remarks on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) spoke about the need to pass a bipartisan, long-term highway funding bill. Excerpts of Senator Cornyn's remarks are below and ...

07/19/2015

ECISD construction slightly delayedOdessa American (TX)July 19--Ector County ISD may take ownership of its three new elementary schools a couple of days later than planned, but Chief Operations Officer David Finley said all the bond construction projects are expected to be finished on time. With a $129.75 million bond, the district built the elementary campuses and is making additions to Odessa and Permian high schools. The elementary campuses are ...

07/18/2015

Southern crawl continues with new apartmentsCaller-Times (Corpus Christi, TX)July 18--CORPUS CHRISTI -- As Corpus Christi grows, many new major residential developments are happening further south from downtown, including the largest new development proposed last week to the city. Plans to build the Manhattan Apartments at 7001 Lipes Blvd. were submitted to the city's Development Services Department two days after the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The project is ...

07/18/2015

Loy Lake bridge completion puts Town Center, Sherman Commons back in businessHerald Democrat (Sherman, TX)July 18--The cones are gone, the lanes are open, and the businesses of Sherman's Town Center and Sherman Commons developments want area consumers to know it. The traffic headaches of a 16-month bridge construction project are now behind the city, and the new Loy Lake Road bridge is open for business. "It has increased the traffic that has come in (off Loy Lake Road)," Palio's Pizza Cafe ...

07/18/2015

As More Earthquakes Shake North Texas, Bridge Inspectors Check for DamageFort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)July 18--When a big earthquake hits, the world often sees horrific images of collapsed bridges. For example, in 1989 during a deadly 6.9-magnitude San Francisco area earthquake, the double-deck Nimitz Freeway pancaked, killing 42 people and 50-foot sections of the Bay Bridge also collapsed, killing a woman. North Texas is unlikely to experience an earthquake of that scope, researchers said. ...

07/16/2015

GM to expand SUV plantUSA TodayGeneral Motors is spending $1.4 billion, or more than a quarter of its U.S.-wide manufacturing investment, to expand the Arlington, Texas, plant where it builds its largest and most profitable SUVs.Construction is expected to begin this summer and will be complete in 2018, but it will not disrupt production of Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans, GMC Yukons and Yukon XLs and Cadillac Escalades. ...

07/16/2015

EOG Resources plans to expand Midland presenceMidland Reporter Telegram (TX)July 16--EOG Resources project engineers were on hand at Tuesday's Midland City Council meeting to discuss plans to expand its Midland presence. The company has requested council approval of a rezoning plan that will accommodate construction work that is part of EOG's three-phase expansion effort. A first reading was Tuesday. Phase one of the expansion will involve building a new surface ...

07/15/2015

Dozens hold vigil for construction worker who died on the jobAustin American-Statesman (TX)July 15--With lit candles, an impromptu choir and sorrow in their hearts, a group of about 50 people marched Tuesday night from the Plaza Saltillo Station to a construction site in East Austin to lay an altar in memory of a construction worker who died on the job last month. The incident struck a chord among workers and labor advocates who say 28-year-old Ramiro Loa's death is an example of ...

07/14/2015

GM invests $1.4B to expand Texas SUV plantDetroit Free Press (MI)July 14--General Motors is spending $1.4 billion, or more than a quarter of its U.S.-wide manufacturing investment to expand the Arlington, Texas, plant where it builds its largest and most profitable SUVs. Construction is expected to begin this summer and will be complete in 2018, but it will not disrupt production of Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans, GMC Yukons and Yukon XLs and Cadillac ...

07/14/2015

Hill Country native serves with Navy construction groupKerrville Daily Times (TX)July 14--One Hill Country native is proudly serving his country as a member of the U.S. Navy's Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, based in Gulfport, Mississippi. Constructionman Russell Nail, a Boerne native, specializes in building structures in areas of conflict. Sailors attached to units such as the NMCB 133 are nicknamed Seabees, a unique Navy group trained as builders and fighters ...

07/13/2015

Proposed construction of gas pipelines concerns San Elizario residentsEl Paso Times (TX)July 13--Two large pipelines that will transport natural gas to Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission may soon be under construction near San Elizario, raising safety and environmental concerns among area residents. The proposed pipelines come as energy policy reforms implemented by the Mexican government last year now allow foreign companies to invest in that country's energy industry. The ...

07/11/2015

Big Chihuahua City homebuilder has entered El Paso home market with some new looksEl Paso Times (TX)July 11--One of the largest homebuilders in Chihuahua City has moved into the El Paso market. Corporación Técnica de Urbanismo, or CTU, plans to build 134 homes in Horizon Hills, located between Eastlake and Horizon boulevards in far East El Paso County, reported Fernando Torres, vice president of operations for Metro Homes, the company name being used by CTU in the United States. Metro Homes ...

07/11/2015

Austin outlines road map to fix building and planning departmentsAustin American-Statesman (TX)July 11--Four months after a consultant's report exposed problems within the city's oft-criticized planning and building departments, Austin officials released their own report detailing how they plan to turn around the beleaguered departments. But providing the extra staff and upgraded technology needed to fix these departments won't be cheap. The city says it plans to ask for $2.8 million ...

07/10/2015

FM 121 Residents Will be Losing Land in TxDOT Road ExpansionVan Alstyne Leader (TX)July 10--The Texas Department of Transportation held an open house at the Van Alstyne Community Center on Wednesday for members of the public interested in learning more about Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) plans to widen FM 121 into multiple lanes, a project which will affect property owners along parts stretching from Jim Jones Road to FM 336. After a brief introduction from ...

07/10/2015

Artspace El Paso Lofts Break Ground with Support from FHLB Dallas, Wells FargoReal Estate Weekly NewsBy a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Real Estate Weekly News -- El Paso's art scene gained ground yesterday with a ceremonial groundbreaking of Artspace El Paso Lofts, a 51-unit building of affordable live/work housing for artists and their families with multipurpose, nonprofit commercial space. The estimated $12.7 million project is funded in part by a $500,000 Affordable Housing Program ...

07/08/2015

MetroNational to expand its footprint with new office buildingHouston Chronicle (TX)July 08--MetroNational's development of Memorial City will spread its footprint for the first time to the north of Interstate 10 with a new office building. The Houston-based developer announced plans Tuesday to build a 240,000-square-foot building on an 18-acre tract, as part of the company's long-term vision to redevelop the area. It comes at time, however, when the west Houston office ...

07/07/2015

Facebook Starts Construction on Huge Data Center in Fort WorthFort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)July 07--FORT WORTH -- Social media giant Facebook made official today that it likes Fort Worth, as company executives joined city, county and state officials to turn dirt on a mega-data center at AllianceTexas where servers will process news feeds from 1.5 billion users around the world. The groundbreaking culminated a year-long vetting process that took Fort Worth from being a candidate ...

07/07/2015

Sherman moves forward with plan to build new hospitalHerald Democrat (Sherman, TX)July 07--The big sign on the empty lot says "Sherman Crossroads," but a person might as well add an apostrophe "S" to the name of the city and make the phrase figurative. The Sherman City Council on Monday weighed a crossroad decision that could determine the future of the city's south side along U.S. Highway 75. After more than 90 minutes of meeting in executive session followed by testimony, ...

07/07/2015

Under-construction MSU residence hall will be largest on campusWichita Falls Times Record News (TX)July 07--WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State University students will have one more place to call home sweet home, thanks to its latest campus addition, a $35.25 million residence hall slated to open in August 2016. MSU broke ground this summer on a 152,000-square-foot, five-story building that will tout 500 beds in traditional double- and single-resident arrangements. It will be located ...

07/06/2015

DFW home construction picking up, but still far behind demandFort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)July 06--Rainy weather again took its toll on home construction in Dallas-Fort Worth in the second quarter and while builders made some headway catching up with demand, buyers are being asked to be patient. If the rains had not soaked North Texas in the first quarter and part of the second quarter, as many as 2,000 additional new homes would be underway, said Ted Wilson with Residential ...

07/06/2015

KBR to spin off industrial services segmentHouston Chronicle (TX)July 06--KBR announced two deals Monday, one that will spin off its industrial services into a new company and another to sell KBR's Canadian pipe fabrication facility. Houston-based KBR has been undergoing a major restructuring since December, when CEO Stuart Bradie laid out a plan to shed several business segments and narrow its focus on engineering and construction for hydrocarbon markets, ...

07/06/2015

Airport nears completionWichita Falls Times Record News (TX)July 06--WICHITA FALLS -- The city of Wichita Falls is coming in for a landing on construction at the Wichita Falls Regional Airport. On the City Council's agenda for Tuesday is a change order to build a full-service restaurant and bar, access to short-term parking and reconstruction of Taxiway C. After these changes, the city will essentially have a new airport, Aviation and Transportation ...

How the DCOA-CarbonLITE collapsedAbilene Reporter-News (TX)July 06--ABILENE, Texas -- The Development Corporation of Abilene spent an estimated $1.9 million in construction costs and an additional $600,000 in architectural and design fees in its attempt to bring the company here. The deal with plastics recycling company CarbonLITE crumpled when the company failed to meet deadlines related to financial requirements, said Kent Sharp, the organization's ...

07/03/2015

Crumbling Westbury Square to see new life as residential hubHouston Chronicle (TX)July 03--The days are numbered for what's left of the once-thriving Westbury Square retail complex, a crumbling collection of buildings intended to evoke a European-style shopping village in the middle of a 1950s Houston subdivision. The 55-year-old property just outside the southwest corner of the Loop is being sold to a developer who plans to tear down the remaining buildings in about a ...